There’s no one like Bob Stauffer — the ultimate Oilers insider and as hard-working a digger upper of information as you’ll find in the NHL — for spinning out the insider rumour and thinking of the Edmonton organization, and the cagey radio colour commentator was in fine form on Thursday night with Reid Wilkins on 630 CHED.

The main takeaway from their discussion is that if things work out on defence this fall for the Oilers, the team might trade a d-man for a centre, but that in the meantime the Oilers might sign up a “temp” to compete with Mark Arcobello and Anton Lander for two open spots on the Oilers roster.

Here are the highlights:

* The impression Stauffer is getting from coach Dallas Eakins — and whatever else Stauffer hears — is that the Oilers don’t want to rush Edmonton’s last two first round picks, d-man Darnell Nurse and centre Leon Draisaitl. “I personally wouldn’t rule Draisaitl out, but I understand the hesitation of the organization. I think they’d like to have another guy down the middle. In terms of Nurse, he’s going to have to come in and steal a job away from somebody else, that’s all there is to it. I’m not quite convinced that Draisaitl has to do that. I think there might be a job there for Leon to do lose quite frankly, even though they are setting the expectation levels low.”

My take: Having watched Nurse in the playoffs for the OKC Barons, it’s evident the Oilers have a player with all kinds of physical tools and great skill with the puck, but Nurse is also a player who needs more time to develop his decision-making. He can use another year in major junior. It certainly didn’t hurt a player like Griffin Reinhart to return to junior, and Reinhart plays a much more static game than Nurse.

As for Draisaitl, he should indeed be competing for a job in training camp, but that’s never been the issue.

Of course, he’ll compete and maybe he’s good enough to make the team.

The real issue is whether or not the Oilers bring in another veteran centre, because if that doesn’t happen Draisaitl will likely then be expected to make the team to fill a hole. If that hole(s) is filled with a veteran, with Arcobello or with Lander, Draisaitl can still bull his way in there, but he won’t have to do so out of necessity.

* On unrestricted free agent David Legwand to Oilers? Stauffer said: “I’m going to flat out tell you I’ve never heard that name brought up.”

My take: Too bad. Legwand sounds like a player who could have helped the Oilers. He puts up consistently decent scoring numbers at even strength and is known as a solid defender. That said, in all my years watching the Oilers play Nashville I can’t say I’ve noticed Legwand as a player standing out. He plays kind of quiet, vanilla game. But maybe I just missed something with him. I was never looking specifically for what he did or didn’t do in a game, and you need that kind of focus to evaluate a player.

* On Mark Arcobello’s chance at centre? Stauffer said: “I think you could get a temporary short term fit on a one year guy. Could you get (free agent centre) Derek Roy on a one-year deal? Yeah, you could. What has happened to his game? How much worse is Arcobello than Roy in reality? That’s what I kind of want to see. They know that they’re not good enough at centre right now. They’re going to look for it.”

My take: Arcobello utterly ripped up the AHL last spring after playing six weeks of decent two-way hockey as the Oilers 2C early in the 2013-14 seasons. He’s ripe, good to go, and the only thing keeping him out of an NHL job is his size. He’s small, but he’s overcome a lot and I expect he’ll make the Oilers this year and contribute.

Stauffer is bang on to question whether or not a declining player like Roy would be any better than Arcobello. It’s the right question to ask.

* On the defence? Stauffer talked about the chances of a player like newcomer Keith Aulie rediscovering his confidence and ability in Edmonton. “I think there’s something there with Aulie. I got to tell you… I was pleased that Duane Sutter stepped up for Keith Aulie. Because I have a lot of confidence in Duane Sutter as a pro scout. He comes from outside the Oilers pro scouting realm. He’s had some pretty significant experience around the NHL, a lot more than some of the other pro scouts who have just simply been pro scouts.”

Stauffer said to start the year the pairings could be Nikita Nikitin on the left, Justin Schultz on the right, Martin Marcinin and Jeff Petry and Andrew Ference and Mark Fayne, with Aulie as the seventh guy.

But what if Oscar Klefbom was to play well in Oklahoma City early in the year, or Nurse played well in the preseason? “Does that enable them to move another piece?” Stauffer asked. “And Jeff Petry is the name that keeps getting brought but maybe Petry could be used as a piece to get a centre.”

Stauffer suggested the St. Louis Blue would not be interested in Petry for centre Patrick Berglund, as they have such a deep defence there.

Stauffer brought up Josh Bailey of the Islanders, saying Bailey had had better Corsi numbers than Berglund.

“There’s a more likely guy that could come in play, but Bailey has got a tough contract. He’s got four years left at $3.3 million. So maybe you sign a guy as a temp fit, and if the temp fit doesn’t get it done, or Arcobello doesn’t get it done, then you use from your position of strength on defence, assuming one of these guys, Marincin or Klefbom takes a big step forward.”

Good idea to sign a temp, but it’s not clear who that player might be.

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